All 15.0 - The Coming of the All
It was Sivan 12th: a beautiful late spring morning. The sun was shining, a warm wind blew through the streets, and Arlington was celebrating the Carnival of Edona. Streets were draped with colourful banners, stalls sold artwork, jewelry and other bright objects, and confetti danced in the wind as people paid homage to the lesser god of love and art. Lucca wandered through the streets looking for his friend, who had made a great deal about Lucca showing up, only to not be at the meeting place himself. The druid didn’t take it too seriously though: Cress had both a poor sense of direction and time, and was usually lost or late. As he looked around the busy festival, he recognized a short, round woman with bobbed grey-brown hair. Heading over and calling out a greeting, the woman turned and returned the good morning. The woman wasn’t actually a human at all, despite her appearance: it was Cheko, wearing the disguise she always wore when wandering through human cities. The two exchanged pleasantries while waiting for Cress to arrive. When eventually he did, and the pair of young men had an argument about which street they were supposed to meet on, Cheko offered to join them on their trip to the beer tent, since parties were always more fun with friends. The men agreed, and the three set off. Ryuji, Caitlyn and their son Shintaro, several blocks away, meandered around the festival, letting their son marvel at the noise and colour of it. The kobold Carrot was also with them, looking about in awe. The couple had come to the city to attend a meeting the next day in regards to a secret, hushed issue regarding a threat to international security originating in Yeto; they had brought their son so that they could see the festivities with him beforehand. Carrot had been brought specifically to go to their condo to discover, and stop, whatever thing she had installed previously in the walls that was making an incessant beeping noise. As they walked, they happened to bump into a familiar face: Percival Webber, Caitlyn’s former boss. He greeted them, much to Caitlyn’s mild distaste. They exchanged pleasantries politely; Caitlyn was rather dodgy when asked what brought them to the city that day, and if she was certain it didn’t have anything to do with perhaps a meeting that might or might not be happening the next day. When it was obvious that the pair didn’t want to discuss their intentions with him, he introduced himself to the kobold and started asking what she enjoyed doing. When she mentioned an affinity for clocks, Pierce stated that this was rather fortuitous, as he had a broken clock in his local office that his assistant kept forgetting to get repaired, and it was driving him mad to look at. Caitlyn was hesitant to let Carrot go, but Pierce insisted and stated that he would pay her well and get her back safe. Carrot was merely of the opinion that she liked clocks, so finally Caitlyn relented. With the kobold wandering off with the businessman, the parents returned to enjoying the day with their son. The blue-eyed Yetoman known as Shinobi stalked the streets of Arlington, aiming for the warehouse district and avoiding the crowded celebration. A man named Maasaki was his target: a criminal from Yeto who had escaped to Asanon. According to his sources, he could be found having a meeting today with a local criminal, which would be his chance to strike. Sneaking expertly into the building, he avoided the workers and headed to the staircase that led up to a suspended office. He could see three people inside, and a guard standing just outside the door. Shrouding himself in invisibility, he walked up the stairs and with a single, brutal slice, he decapitated the guard. Screams rang out from below as the carnage was spotted by the workers, who immediately began fleeing from the warehouse. Letting the body fall limply down the stairs, he stood at the ready as someone mumbled inside that they would see what was going on. As soon as the hapless man opened the door, Shinobi gutted him. A second man yelled from inside and armed himself, while a woman’s voice said something the ninja couldn’t hear. The second man ran at him with a sledgehammer: it was Maasaki. As Shinobi began to beat him backwards with his katana, he couldn’t see anything of the woman he had heard. However, he saw a chair raise up and break the window overlooking the warehouse. As Maasaki screamed profanities and entreaties for help, Shinobi returned his attention to him, considering the woman gone already. In seconds, he killed the man and took his head as proof of his bounty. Leaving the bodies where they lay, Shinobi collected himself and left, heading to the LT station to return to Yeto. Victor, with his son Virgil, also walked around the festival, Virgil endlessly attracted to the bright colours and sounds of the festival. It was late spring, so Virgil’s second year of school was coming to a close; they had already begun moving things on the weekend to Lockeport for the summer, and had just returned from one of those trips for Virgil to go to school the next morning. They had a loose trajectory towards their home, but there was no rush, It was at this time, while the city celebrated and everyone went about their business, when everything suddenly went wrong. Screams could be heard throughout the festival, prompting some to run towards the sound and some to begin to flee. A vivid, consuming affliction suddenly struck everyone. A severe, pitching nausea overcame everyone in the city, accompanied by a cryptic, telepathic message that could be mentally seen and heard by everyone who felt the sickness. “All are everything that can be both and neither, complete All have come the fractions will add to All” As quickly as it started, it passed, leaving many in the streets prone, retching and terrified. From their different vantages, people began to spring into action: Shinobi at one end of the festival and Lucca at another both ran towards the disturbance, the latter grabbing Cress by the wrist and calling for Cheko to come with him; meanwhile, Caitlyn, Ryuji and Victor, worrying for their children, began to run as quickly as they could away from the crowds. They each were confronted by alien creatures who seemed to be meandering down the streets, floating lazily but purposefully as they routinely reached out, gesturing with their strange, multi-jointed arms. They had no legs, and four arms spaced evenly around their robed torsos; the head at the top had no hair, no features, but a giant, empty eye on each of its four sides, making the creature appear identical from four different vantages. Wherever they passed, everything was left grey and motionless, as though frozen in place, and anyone in their presence was stricken with a deep, primal fear, causing everyone to either stand transfixed or run screaming, mindless with terror. One by one, each person in Arlington was consumed in the wake of the creatures, their vision turning white and their minds turning blank as the beings reached towards them as they stood rooted by their panic and revulsion. ---- The whiteness passed for some. A large group of people found themselves standing in a field of long grass, notable for its odd luster and colour. Lucca, still grasping firmly to Cress’ wrist, dropped it and looked about in a confused panic: he recognized Etheria. Cress stormed about, turning his fear into outrage, as he demanded to know what was going on from the world more than any single person. Cheko took off her Hat of Disguise and tugged nervously at her ears, obviously panicked and close to tears. Ryuji held Shintaro, who was crying, and tried to comfort his son, though he looked rather ashen himself; Caitlyn stood nearby, her attention and gaze fixed on another person. Victor, a sword drawn, did much the same, though his son, older and brazen to a fault, recovered from the shock much faster, turning his attention to some small, fluffy creatures that had apparently been riding on his father. Pierce was there, looking stricken; Carrot clung to him with a death grip, yelling a single, high-pitched scream of fear. He managed to both pull her off and shush her, only for him to start yelling questions alongside Cress. Shinobi stood with a sword drawn as well, standing at the ready, eyeing the others and keeping a defense ready for whatever might happen next. There were others there too: a woman with silvery-grey hair and another with an octopus on her head, arguing with each other about where they were and what was going on, as well as an old man holding a book, apparently concerned over a page that had been torn out. The women were recognized as contenders from the Wizard Battle: Bastion and Aries. The old man, however, was the focus of Caitlyn’s stony gaze: Dr. Cohen, last seen being handed over to the authorities years ago. She began to mutter things under her breath, staring at him, casting spells that no one noticed but seemed to be having no effect on him. It was Lucca who saw the last figure appear among them: an inhumanly thin and gangly being with a featureless mask covering its face, its flat, grey hair hanging limply. It was the fey known as Harlequin that had bothered Lucca for so long. It looked tired, weak, and drained. Lucca stormed over to it, demanding an explanation, followed by those who noticed him, all shouting for information or to be taken home. No one noticed Caitlyn, still staring transfixed, still casting spells. For the first time any of them had ever seen, Harlequin spoke, his voice coming from behind the mask as a scratchy, discordant mess that sounded almost as painful to make as to hear. He muttered that he was done; he couldn’t get anyone else and the place was locked. Pressed further, he yelled for silence that he didn’t get, and explained, very irritably, that something had attacked his cities, all of his Materian cities, and that it was all he could do to grab the strongest people he could find from the the city he happened to have been in at the time, which was the lot of them. Everyone was confused and upset, and demanded more. It was then, suddenly, that Cohen yelled out that he had been blinded. Everyone set about in a tizzy, wondering what was happening. It became quickly obvious that it was due to Caitlyn’s magic, having finally passed Cohen’s innate defenses, because she wasn’t done yet. Casting Suggestion on him successfully, she commanded him to throw away everything on his person, and to lie on the ground with his hands on his head. Tossing away the book and pen that he had been holding, but nothing else, he dropped to the ground, mourning the fact that he would never find that pen in the grass. Some wondered what was going on, why Caitlyn was doing this; some told her to stop, that this wasn’t helping whatever was happening. She ignored them, and walked over and collected the thrown book. One man, however, saw his chance: blind and prone, Cohen was a perfect target, and would make a fine bounty. Shinobi lept forward, driving his katana into the sightless doctor’s back. Activating its magical power, the katana became fastened in space, keeping the man bound to the spot while impaled on the blade; he let got of the sword and drew a second, aiming to kill. Victor would not allow this development: dashing towards Shinobi, sword drawn, the man attempted to drive back the ninja and protect the vulnerable doctor. With a clever twist, he disarmed Shinobi, sending his katana flying into the grass. Lucca joined in as well, readying a spell and yelling at Caitlyn to stop. The woman almost seemed to be in a trance, so fixated she was on Cohen; muttering words, she began to magically enhance herself, her family, and the ninja set on killing the wanted criminal. Harlequin approached Caitlyn, threatening her to stop. Changing targets to attack the man who threatened him, Shinobi drew a bo staff and vanished, making his way invisibly behind Victor to strike from behind. Using the power of his enchanted shoes, Lucca could feel the tremors caused from the ninja’s footsteps and told Victor of his location. Standing beside the doctor, Victor took hold of the katana that was currently sheathed in Cohen’s back; finding the subtle switch that immobilized it, he pressed it and yanked it out, earning a pained yell from the doctor. Giving him a shove with his foot, Victor directed him to crawl away, before yelling at Ryuji to stop his wife and at Cress to help, tossing the katana to the latter. Ryuji tried to calm Caitlyn, eventually managing to calm her enough to stop casting, though she was still in a hateful, terrified trance; with that taken care of, Harlequin teleported to the doctor and led him somewhat away. Meanwhile, Shinobi fought off Victor, Lucca and Cress, though it was apparent he wasn’t strong enough to handle all three. As he tried to escape to a more advantageous location, Cress managed to impale him with the immovable katana, locking him in place and preventing his escape. With the ninja incapable of causing more harm and Caitlyn placated for the moment, the group turned back to Harlequin, demanding answers. He explained little further: he didn’t know what sorts of creatures attacked. The creatures, the All, weren’t of Materia, Etheria, or even Heaven or Hell; they had a strange otherness to them, a complete neutrality unlike any of the planes he knew. A few people speculated on this, that maybe there was another plane that no one knew of. Wherever they were from, Harlequin explained, they had entered Materia and had attacked it in some fashion he could not explain, freezing or locking everything in a way that disrupted not only Materia, but Etheria as well. He didn’t know how far they had spread, only that they were in all of his cities across Asanon and Yeto, and he didn’t know if everyone there was alive or dead, or what could be done. As a way of possibly being able to do something, he had grabbed as many of the most powerful people he could from the city he was in, Arlington, and had taken them to Etheria. Favouring those he could locate quickly, he had selected 5 people with some sort of Etherial connection, the devil, and 4 powerful casters before he had run out of time. His intention was for these 10 people to save Mirilarin; however, they weren’t strong enough as they were, and would have to approach the gods to attain the power they needed to drive the invaders back. When pressed that there were 14 people present, not 10, he explained that 4 people had been carried along, since he didn’t have the luxury of waiting until his chosen had empty hands. With that somewhat lacking explanation, he muttered something about how they needed transportation and how he would have to call in a favour before teleporting away, leaving them there. Abandoned in a strange place, confused and suffering from loss and confusion, everyone drifted into small groups with people they felt comfortable with. Cheko had stayed with the children, and continued to do so after being joined by the Komatsus; Cress and Lucca joined each other, eventually wandering over to patch up the blind and pathetic doctor; Bastion and Magdha conferred; and Victor stood near Pierce as he panicked. Eventually, Lucca called over Cheko, and the pair agreed to prepare the spells to lift the man’s blindness, while Bastion went to Shinobi and, once convinced of his calmness, removed the katana that was pinning him. Caitlyn saw them preparing spells and confronted them; she made it explicitly and utterly clear that his condition was not to be touched. He was an evil man, a terrible man, and deserved worse. Lucca began to argue, since there was obviously something much bigger going on, and if Harlequin had brought him on the grounds of his usefulness, then he shouldn’t be handicapped needlessly. Caitlyn was resolute. Harlequin returned suddenly, and declared that he had found the location. He would keep the four ‘useless’ people with him to keep them out of the way, and the rest would find the thing they would need to transport them around. Each person suddenly found in their pockets a joker playing card with a red back: Harlequin instructed them to call him with it when they found what they were looking for. Then, with little fanfare or warning, they were all teleported. ---- The location they found themselves in now was pitch black; the air smelled of salt water and algae. A voice called out that it ‘didn’t owe the Alleylord anything anymore’, followed by a splash. Several people immediately cast light, illuminating the area, revealing it to be a cave. Looking around, they could see that there were pools around the edges, likely which marked underwater passages. Besides those, there was nothing at all besides damp stone. Amongst themselves, they could see that the two children were gone, as well as Carrot and Cress. Victor appeared to be rigid with pain, but when asked, he waved them off and said he’d be better in a moment. There was little to do but explore further, but there was still contention between everyone, particularly what was to be done with Cohen. Bastion stood at the center and called for attention. Addressing everyone, she tried to call an order: whatever was going on, they had to work together. First, she wanted everyone to introduce themselves and explain their skills, particularly in regards to what the fey had mentioned about five Etherians, four casters and a devil, hoping to make everyone more acquainted with each other and their abilities. Everyone went around in a circle and introduced themselves. Lucca, a druid who was one of the Etherian-tied, but who didn’t want to elaborate; Victor, a bound devil who was also a decent swordsman; Pierce, a businessman who had no idea why he was there; Cheko, a mimigan cleric, one of the four casters; Magdha, a wizard who specialized in summoning, making her a caster; Caitlyn, a bard whose powers were tied to the chaos plane; Ryuji, a paladin bearing an Etherian curse; Shinobi, a bounty hunter and assassin who had a slightly scorcerous tint to his bloodline, placing him with the Etherians; and Cohen, skilled in the casting arts of alchemy. Bastion introduced herself as a wizard, an illusionist, marking her as the fourth caster and making Pierce the fifth Etherian by default, though he did not elaborate on what that might mean. When that was finished, she turned her attentions to the alchemist, and what was to be done about him. Caitlyn declared that he should be left here, blinded and bereft of his equipment; she would not go anywhere with him. Others spoke their opinions, until Bastion called for order again and had each individual state their opinion on the matter. Lucca was of the mind that he would be useful, and that whatever they were facing required them to band together, not reject one of the few people they had to work with, and so he should be restored to capacity; Victor agreed with Lucca, though was less vehement about his treatment; Cheko felt that it would be wrong to leave him here, particularly if he was blind, since it really was just resigning him to death, and it didn’t seem just to execute someone in that fashion; Pierce had no opinion, too upset was he by his own situation; Magdha agreed that he should be left in the cave, though his blindness could be removed; Shinobi was of the mind that it would be better to give him a quick death than to leave him to starve; and Ryuji, though obviously torn, finally settled on it being an improper execution to leave him in the cave. As such, it was eventually decided that he would be brought along with them, but his blindness would not be removed, despite the aggravation it inflicted upon the others. Cohen made some bitter remarks, but overall was complicit with his fate. Ryuji offered to scout ahead, as he was the only one who could stay underwater for long periods without having to waste finite magical resources. With a goodbye to his wife and a request to Victor to watch over her while he was gone, he jumped into one of the pools and disappeared. Everyone sat mostly silently in the cave, though Caitlyn asked Victor how he could stand to leave his son with the fey, and how he could even remotely trust it. He replied rather simply that the fey should know better than to do anything to the children, and at the very least, he would get little help from the group if he did. However, from Caitlyn’s perspective, Harlequin was a liar and wanted to trick and exploit them; Victor was undeterred in his opinion. Eventually, Ryuji returned. He explained that they were in some sort of cave at the bottom of the ocean, though he didn’t know how deep or where they could be. Not far from where they stood was some sort of metal building comprised of three domes: the largest, central dome had a huge door, but he had no idea how to open it. The two smaller, periphery domes, attached to the central one by short hallways, each also seemed to have some sort of door. Those doors were both already open from what he could see, though he didn’t investigate any further on his own. It was decided that they should investigate the domes; in order to not waste time, the whole group would divide into two in order to inspect both smaller domes simultaneously. If everything went well, they should then be able to meet in the center. Caitlyn refused to be in a team with Cohen, and Cohen, due to his blindness, needed to be with someone who could guide him. That person was Lucca, who could use his druidic powers to shift to the form of a marine mammal, and so could carry the doctor without hindrance. From there, Caitlyn and Lucca each selected people one-by-one to be on their team: Caitlyn was joined by Ryuji, Cheko, Magdha and Shinobi, while Lucca took Victor, Bastion and Pierce, as well as the blind doctor. With that, those who were able cast the spells needed for people to temporarily breathe underwater did their magic, people grabbed onto guide ropes tethered to Ryuji and dolphin-Lucca, and they set out. Each group went to a different door. Passing through, both teams found themselves in an empty metal room, with a sealed door on the far side and some sort of cart rails near the floor. Investigating it, Caitlyn determined it was a subtly altered enchantment based on Open/Close, and would react to that spell. Casting it, the door behind her and her group closed; when it finished, the water began to drain out of the room. When they were standing on dry land, the door in front of them opened, allowing them entry. On the other side, Lucca was unable to cast spells due to his dolphin shape, and Bastion was not handling the dark, pressure-laden water well enough to concentrate on the task at hand. Suddenly, the door behind them closed: Pierce had activated the door. When the water was gone, he mumbled something about it just being a simple spell, and shrugged them away. Both teams entered the domes. The rails led inside, through the doors. Once within, they found dark rooms, where the rails split and led to three different corners. There was nothing on them though, begging the question of what belonged on the tracks. Workbenches and tools were scattered about, as though this was some sort of machine shop in the past, though from the smell of the air and the dust, it had been a very long time since anyone had been there. The air was clean though, and there was a faint breeze: something was circulating the air about. Regardless, everyone began searching their respective rooms, not finding much of anything. Both rooms had two doors: a locked hatch that must lead to the hallways seen outside, and a door in the corner leading to a ladder that led to the upper levels. Both hatches were locked with a keyhole and a panel, so everyone began to hunt for keys. Caitlyn, Ryuji and Cheko moved to investigate their second floor, while Lucca, Victor and the doctor went to see theirs, Lucca being unwilling to leave the blind man unattended. At the top of Caitlyn’s dome was a series of desks and workbenches that she recognized as a research facility. The top of the dome was glass, and various pieces of abandoned scholarly equipment covered the desks. Some books and papers were found, but the inks were faded and the sheets crumbled to dust when touched. In the far corner was a walled-off area, which they found was just filled with magical machines quietly working away, probably to provide the building with air and other such support. Overall, there seemed to be little to be found in the room. At one point, Cheko pricked up her ears, then bolted under a table. The other two asked her what it was, but all she could say was that she had seen something big moving above them. In a stroke of good fortune, however, she found something under the desk. Written in a very old language, someone had scribbled under the desk “The door is 15”. Unsure of what that meant, they kept looking. Eventually, after picking through every drawer and shelf in the room, Ryuji triumphantly held up a key that he had found in a pocket of an old, decayed lab coat. Hoping that it would be for the door, they returned downstairs. In the other dome, the top floor seemed designated for living quarters: a short hall brought people to a dorm, a mess, a common room and a bathroom, as well as a room housing machines that maintained the building’s livability. Splitting up, Victor checked the mess and the bathroom, while Lucca scoured the dorm and the common room, leaving Cohen in the hallway. It seemed that everything had been taken away, leaving the facility in an orderly state of mostly emptiness. However, Lucca managed to find some gaming implements that had withstood the test of time: a deck of lacquered cards and a pair of dice. He also found, shoved under the cushions of a couch, a key that he fervently hoped was for the door downstairs. While he looked though, he heard a thumping sound from outside, and just barely managed to glimpse something large and pale slither past a porthole. When he rejoined Victor, all he reported was that someone had scribbled something in an old language on the bathroom wall. Translated, it read as “remember that it’s clockwise”. Shrugging, the group went back downstairs. Both groups found that the keys, when inserted into the keyholes by the doors, activated the nearby panels. Caitlyn’s door required number inputs in a grid that totalled 15 in each direction, while Lucca’s required a 4-digit passcode be entered in the correct order. Both groups solved their puzzle and continued into the central hub. Once inside the dome, they found it to be similar to the first rooms they entered: a workspace or docking area for something that travelled on rails. This time however, they room was not only much larger, but also actually had something resting on said rails: what appeared to be an oddly-shaped metal boat. There was a scaffolding leading up to its side, where what appeared to be a door was set into its side. With little else to do but investigate, the door was opened. Inside seemed to be all of the makings of a ship, with living quarters, a command room and a storage bay. Everyone agreed that this must be what Harlequin had sent them for, and so Lucca placed his card out. Within seconds, the fey appeared, bringing with him the two children, the kobold and Cress. The kids skipped over to their parents, while Carrot looked about, first with apprehension, then with a growing sense of amazement and glee. She began running about, sticking her nose in and around the command terminals, the apparent engine room and any other visible part of the ship. Meanwhile, everyone began questioning Harlequin again. He didn’t respond to them, less out of rudeness and more out of what seemed to be fatigue. He continued to look progressively weaker, mumbling that he had spent a lot of power, and wasn’t very strong in Materia to begin with. Spying Lucca, he made a gesture of remembrance. Fishing through his pockets, he pulled out a note. On it was Lucca’s handwriting; it was the IOU from so many years ago, when he had been called upon to help with Ryuji’s curse. Harlequin grasped the note and declared that it was time to pay up: Lucca was going to help him out. Without any greater explanation, he clutched the note and disappeared, returning to Etheria. Lucca looked about with great apprehension, unsure of what might happen. It was Victor who spied it first, and directed Lucca to the top of his backpack, behind his head. Reaching around, he felt something cold and smooth: it was Harlequin’s mask. Suddenly, he could hear his own voice in his head, speaking unbidden about how this wasn’t a perfect solution, but it meant that he could stay in Materia. Unsettled, he made to shove the mask in his bag, but his internal voice complained that he couldn’t see or hear anything in there. Compromising, Lucca took the mask and strung it on his belt through its eye, which apparently was quite fine. The druid was informed that the mask was, indeed, Harlequin, who had taken on another form that would more easily allow him to conserve energy, but required someone to carry him around. He couldn’t speak, but he could talk telepathically with whomever held him; also, he was linked with Lucca personally, so he couldn’t easily be rid of him. Still leery but not unwilling, Lucca pressed him more about what they should be doing. Harlequin groaned that he couldn’t do everything: he knew that they would have to petition the gods for greater power, and that there should be a shrine for that, but he had no idea where it was, since he had never left Mirilarin before. This elicited an angered response from many of those gathered. At this point, Carrot interjected with what she had learned about the ship’s command room from inspecting it so far. The central seat was for the pilot, and she could figure out how someone would steer it, though it would take someone much bigger than her. She could see that one of the command terminals was meant to navigate and take readings from outside the boat, though most of those functions seemed to be off and she couldn’t read any of the displays anyways. A short chute led to a gun turret that could be used to fight attackers, and another terminal gave information about the ship’s status, though again, she couldn’t really read any of it. The technology was part mechanical and part magic, well beyond any of the people there, excepting maybe the prodigious talent of the kobold. She had also managed to determine that the ship wasn’t exactly fueled, and that it wanted to return to a repair bay somewhere else. Agreeing that this probably wasn’t any worse than any other location, the group agreed to take the ship to the repair bay, after they had some time to decompress and rest after their stressful morning. Before everyone scattered, Bastion called their attention again. She reiterated that whatever they were about to do, it would be difficult, and it would take time. Once again she asked the group what was to be done with Cohen, because as he was, blinded and bereft of his equipment, he was functionally useless and a burden. Several people, Cress, Cheko, Magdha and Pierce, all renounced their opinions for different reasons and left the room. Shinobi, when told that killing him still wasn’t an option, also left. Lucca and Victor remained, stating once again that they were in no position to deny resources, with the druid being more vehement in his statements, trying his best to convince Caitlyn to come to an accord. Caitlyn would hear none of this: Cohen deserved nothing, and would get nothing. She would not work with him, and would not work with people who did. If he was to be restored, then she would leave, and so would Ryuji. The paladin looked obviously very uncomfortable with this assertion, but did not renounce his wife. Finally, when it was obvious that there would be no compromise, Bastion declared then that if he was to be kept blind and dependent, then it should be her and Ryuji’s job to take care of him, since it certainly shouldn’t have to be the responsibility of anyone else. Caitlyn, hurt and frustrated, turned and left the room, leaving the issue unresolved; Ryuji followed her. Caitlyn immediately went to one of the two private rooms, followed by her husband. She sat quietly for a moment before sending Ryuji out to get her a drink. As soon as he was gone, she pulled from her bag Cohen’s book and, without hesitation, burned it to ashes. Sweeping the dust back into her bag, she mentioned none of this to Ryuji when he returned. Everyone moved about the ship, finding their own space. Magdha had taken the other private room, so the others took to the bunks or elsewhere, napping or trying to relax. Victor and Pierce helped Carrot collect useful tools from the warehouse before napping themselves. After a few quiet hours of recuperation, everyone agreed it was time to go. Victor, Bastion and Lucca convened in the command room: Victor would attempt to pilot the craft, Lucca would man the gun, Bastion would keep an eye on the navigation terminal and Carrot would watch the system readouts. With nothing for it but to press on, the group deduced how to power on the great machine. With a whirring hum, it came to life, moving along the rails towards the large airlock. The door closed behind them, the lock filled with water, and the large door to the ocean opened, revealing out the main windshield a panorama of inky, black water. As they pulled smoothly out of the hatch and into open water, a crash reverberated through the hull. Something large, easily as large as their ship, had struck them, and as it came to a stop in front of them, it could be seen as a gigantic, monstrous squid: a kraken. The untrained seamen did their best to evade and fight off their attacker, a legendary sea beast known for its taste for ships. Lucca fired at it as best as he could with his lack of practice, and Victor managed to keep from crashing into anything as the kraken attacked again and again, trying to rip apart the hull with its many arms. Carrot kept the systems running as best she could with the damage, and Bastion quickly gave up the navigation terminal in exchange for keeping frightened and confused people out of the command room. Eventually, the ship proved victorious: brutally wounded, the kraken pulled away and left them be, giving them the time they needed to escape. The ship set itself on its own course, headed towards whatever location it seemed to have decided upon. ---- Quiet began to return to the ship. Carrot busied herself with what repairs she could make while the boat was at sea, while many of the others drifted off to their own corners again. Cheko minded the children while Pierce and the Komatsus stayed in their rooms and Cress, obviously frustrated with the declaration that he was “useless”, milled around in a grouchy depression, occasionally stopping to exercise where he could. Victor remained in the command, still trying to become proficient at piloting the ship, while Lucca immediately went to the common room and dragged the still-blind Cohen back, asking him to “explain guns”. Shinobi hung around the back of the ship, keeping to himself; after his earlier attempt at murder and his assertions of death being the preferable option, Bastion could not feel safe in his presence. As a means of guaranteeing everyone’s safety in the tight quarters, she spoke to Magdha, and easily convinced her to use Flesh to Stone on the ninja unawares, petrifying him until they made landfall and could find some better way of ensuring he wouldn’t attempt to assassinate anyone while they slept. The spell was effective, and the ninja statue was placed securely in the cargo hold. Time passed slowly and poorly marked. Tension was still very high over the first 24 hours, with everyone interacting with each other as little as possible. Bastion and Victor came to the agreement that someone should always be watching the command room, and until others started coming to grips with their situation, it would have to be between the two of them. Caitlyn remained in her room constantly, and Cohen, who needed to be assisted in everyday tasks, seemed to be getting progressively ill, showing lethargy and severe depression that wasn’t there before. The unresolved issues between Caitlyn and Cohen had everyone on edge. Eventually, Harlequin spoke up to Lucca: he hadn’t saved a bunch of people to have them maim each other. He wanted the plane saved, particularly his cities, and he was still banking on the best chances being with the most people. The drama had to stop, and he was willing to make that happen, through whatever means necessary. He explained that he had rather vast power, but only if it was bartered and bargained for by someone else: if Lucca would wish for it, he could make all sorts of things happen, such as erasing Caitlyn’s painful memories of the doctor, allowing her to maintain her composure around him. Lucca agreed to this, though he managed to finagle the point that since it was Harlequin who actually wanted this done, then it should be Lucca getting the IOU and not the fey. This was accepted with no small amount of grumbling, but Harlequin first insisted that they get Ryuji’s assistance; managing someone with gaps in their memories is much easier when there’s someone actively guiding them away from the holes. To that end, Lucca knocked on the door to the small captain’s room, and asked Ryuji to come out. Caitlyn and Shintaro were sleeping, so he quietly removed himself, and the pair stepped into a secluded part of the empty hall. Lucca explained the fey’s offer: the Yetoman appeared responsive while he explained that a compromise needed to be attained, but he darkened when it was revealed that the solution was to affect his wife’s memory. When Lucca finished, Ryuji asked to speak to Harlequin directly, holding his hand out to take the mask. Lucca complied, passing it over. The paladin stood for a long, silent while, obviously communing with the fey while the druid waited. Eventually, Ryuji straightened and tossed the mask, uttering some sort of arcane word; a hand caught it, and the harlequin manifested behind the mask. Holding out a paper and pen for him, Ryuji signed an IOU note which the fey promptly folded up in his jacket. As soon as that was done, Harlequin stepped back into Etheria, as he was known to do. Lucca looked at Ryuji for an explanation, but all he got was the Yetoman’s tired ‘It’s being handled’ before he was left alone, Ryuji returning to his room. Shrugging, Lucca also decided to turn in for the night. At some point, unbeknownst to him, the mask reappeared on his belt. When he awoke, Lucca asked Harlequin what had gone on between him and Ryuji; the fey rather gleefully explained that he’d rather wait for Lucca to find out on his own. It was a solution, he admitted, but probably not the best one and certainly one that was going to lead to fireworks. Unsettled by the ominousness of the remark, Lucca proceed to take his time with getting dressed and eating breakfast, pointedly avoiding the common room. Eventually, he wandered by out of curiosity, and found the doctor sleeping like before. Nothing seemed out of place, until he happened to notice that he seemed to be wearing a black dog collar that he hadn’t had before. Harlequin confirmed that that was indeed the solution, but didn’t explain further. Lucca decided to leave it for the moment. A short while later, he returned to the room to see if the man needed anything. He was awake now, pulling at the collar that didn’t seem to come off. When he realized that someone was there, he began asking what the thing was, and complaining with no small amount of fear and confusion that something was wrong, something in his mind. Lucca went to the hall so as to address both parties, and yelled at the Komatsu’s door what was going on. Ryuji replied that that was the solution: Cohen was the one who was wrong, who had done terrible things and needed to be punished, not his wife. If everyone just wanted him to use as a tool, then that’s what they’d get. Between Ryuji and Harlequin, it was explained what the collar did: it didn’t come off and couldn’t be destroyed, except by Caitlyn’s express and untampered wishes; it prevented him from committing evil, effectively forcing him to be a good person; and it placed him under a sort of Dominate effect, wherein he had to obey commands given to him by Caitlyn. This knowledge obviously threw off both Lucca and Cohen, the latter of whom then understood what was wrong: his emotions and reactions were being altered, and were no longer what he was familiar with. Oddly calm yet obviously furious, Lucca called for Cheko. When she appeared, already able to sense the violent tension in the air, he told her to remove his blindness; he didn’t care anymore, and this situation was now officially stupid. Timidly complying, she cast the spell that counteracted Caitlyn’s previous one, restoring sight to the alchemist. Blinking and looking around, he saw the room he had been staying in for the first time. Still obviously affected, he made a plea for the return of his book; he needed medication, and though he didn’t have the proper ingredients, he might be able to concoct something if he had his formula book and someone’s spell components. Lucca reiterated the request to the Komatsus, but Caitlyn replied that they didn’t have the book, which Ryuji seconded. Cohen got up and went towards the door that Caitlyn and Ryuji hid behind and, practically begging, asked for the return of his book. They held to their claim that they didn’t have it, that it wasn’t there and he couldn’t have it back; when Caitlyn heard that he was near the door, she ordered him to back away. Clutching at the collar on his neck, he staggered backwards and returned to the common room, agitated and slowly becoming distraught. Lucca continued to demand the book, the noise eventually summoning Victor to the scene. After getting a 5-second recap of events, Victor restated the demand firmly, disliking where this whole situation had gone. When they continued to hold to their claim that they didn’t have it, that it was gone in the ocean and wouldn’t ever be found, Cheko was pressed into preparing and casting Locate Object; while she prayed to her god for the spell, Victor and Lucca threatened to turn the boat around to find it. After the spell was cast and the book nowhere remotely nearby, Ryuji voiced confusion: he knew that his wife had taken the book, and he knew that she had never dropped it, since he was with her and watching her the entire time they were outside of the boat, excepting when Victor was with her when he was scouting ahead. Caitlyn opened the door, looked at everyone, and stated one last time that the book was gone before slamming the door once more. Everyone took the implication, not least of all Cohen, who sank to the floor in a state of utter loss. With a cold look at the Komatsu’s door, Victor turned and left, returning momentarily to Cohen with his alchemist kit and pistol, confiscated by Victor years ago in the Underdark and forgotten in his bag of holding. Recognizing it, but not commenting on its providence, Cohen opened the kit and retrieved some pills, which he took with great haste. With nothing else said, Victor left again, and within moments, harsh and angered violin song began playing through the sub. Cheko crept away, saddened by the events, while Lucca stormed off as well. Very little was said that day, though Cheko returned to the Komatsu’s room a few hours later, bearing muffins, small talk and a hug for Caitlyn. ---- The next day, marked only by the pair of watches on the ship, saw communication begin to open up between people once more. Unable to restrain his curiosity anymore, Lucca, at the hint of Harlequin, used the magic mirror to look at Pierce, who had resigned himself mostly to a bunk since boarding the ship. What he saw was what he expected: the shimmery outline of a soul visible from Etheria, but what he noticed was that large pieces seemed to be missing. Offering this information to Victor, who explained that was generally the hallmark of a summoner, the pair went to question him; Victor used far less tact than Lucca expected. Regardless, their conversation seemed to cheer Pierce some, and he agreed to help Bastion try and decode the ship’s navigation systems. Afterwards, Victor spoke to Cohen, while Lucca managed to drag Cress out of his funk as well. When Victor left, he ran into Ryuji, and the two agreed to practice sparring in the storage room; Cress and Lucca worked on an art project in the common room while Cohen sat nearby, and Cheko played with the children in the mess. Caitlyn began to make more forays into the ship, showing an interest in the piloting and navigation systems, but only when Victor was elsewhere. It seemed people were beginning to settle into a sort of peace. On the fourth day, the ship, now named the Gunakadeit by Lucca, reached its destination. Category:Advent of the All